Nintendo Post E3 event in London Part 1

This Friday myself and Colin made our way up to Nintendo’s Post E3 press event in London, where we got to play many of their coming games. The event itself was open for 3 hours and the venue was decked out with Splatoon ink splaterings. Of course we were there from opening to close making sure we got as much time in as possible with Nintendo’s very latest.

When inside, the first game I made my way to was the impressive 8 unit set-up of Splatoon, which drew me in with it’s explosion of colors and silky smooth presentation, you could tell even from a distance this was rocking a solid 60fps.

The demo consisted of a timed tutorial, which quickly eased players into the controls of Splatoon, personally the defaults are spot on! Vertical aiming with motion controls took but afew seconds to get hold of and the rest is similar to traditional first person shooters. After this and everyone is ready you are chucked into a 8 player turf war match.

Turf war keeps up the pace consistently and there is never a dull moment. The aim is to mark as much of the floor in your teams color ink, which you fire out of your super soaker. You can also transform into a squid on the fly, letting you submerge in your own ink, hiding from enemies. You can also swim in your own ink at a faster speed than running. Swimming in your ink, jumping out, transforming, spraying the path in front of you, transforming again and landing in it as a squid to swim through and repeat is a cool tactic to cover ground quickly and feels very impressive when you pull it off in the midst of all the action.

After a few matches throughout the event all of the games were never decided earlier on, even with the 1-minute remaining warning it always felt you could pull back the ground needed to turn things around. I must admit this is the most fun I’ve had playing multiplayer in a long time and multiplier is my favorite way to play.

Next up we headed to the back of venue where Super Smash Bros for Wii U and 3DS was prominently displayed.

I headed to the 3DS version first, as it was that version I had the most unanswered questions. Surprisingly for me it simply felt like Smash. I’ve heard reports that the action gets to small on the 3DS version, but on the XL’s I was playing on it was fine. I can vouch for the authenticity of Super Smash Bros for the 3DS, it feels just right, no complaints with the circle pad or the other 3DS controls. The graphics were fantastic and most importantly very smooth.

Smash Run and regular Smash modes were available. Smash Run felt quite like the Sub-Space Emissary but with a 5 minute time limit putting a needed sense of urgency into the proceedings. You make your way through smashing enemies and collecting stat-boosting power ups, the accumulative effects can be seen on the bottom screen. You then get transported to a regular 4-player fight but with the stat changes you picked up from the run before. The mode felt solid and will add some diversity to the 3DS version.

While still on the 3DS versions we were invited to play as part of a challenge for a limited edition Smash shirt. You get one chance each and the winner of this 4 player match will grab the shirt. Unfortunately my usual main in Smash, Peach was not in the demo so I chose Mario, a solid fall back option. He served me well and after a very tense portable match I won my prize, a Mario emblazoned shirt seemed a appropriate prize as any.

I only then spotted that both of Shigeru Miyamoto’s next projects were here and playable. First up Project Guard.

Multiple difficulty modes present themselves, and then a view of the map you will be defending. At this point you can, with the touch screen spin the cameras around to any angle to wish and even drag and drop them to attach the camera’s to different walls. This alone adds a huge layer of strategy to the game.

The objective is to stop robots of all varieties getting to the center of the facility. You can see out of the CCTV on the TV and a map of the facility and where the cameras are on the GamePad. Tapping a camera on the GamePad will swap that screen with the larger one in the middle, you can aim with the sticks or motion and fire with the trigger. The further you get into the stage the more relentless the enemy pursuits become and the more stressful the game is, having a partner for a extra pair of eyes is almost essential. I’m not sure at what price or form this will be when it’s ready for release but I can tell you it was allot of fun. It felt abit like a larger Nintendo Land attraction in the best way possible.

That’s all for now and there’s much more to come! Let me know your questions, Ill write up the next wave of impressions in the next few days.

Lewis Pugh is a game developer at Leuvsion (www.leuvsion.com) for mobile platforms, born and bred on Nintendo gaming. Being a developer gives Lewis a unique perspective on Nintendo news, especially relating to the eShop and Nintendo Network. Today he plays Wii U and 3DS enjoying their distinctive gameplay offerings. Looking into what the future holds for Nintendo is always tricky, even with its established heritage, but that’s exactly what makes it so fun. NNID: Leuvsion